Last week’s Content Marketing 2.0 event, hosted by MIMA (the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association) and featuring LeadPages’ Clay Collins, was a fantastic look at the world of lead generation – that is to say, turning your content into business results. In today’s world where ad value equivalency is (mostly) a thing of the past and clients insist on seeing more tangible ROI, lead generation is becoming a bigger part of the picture. PR is no exception from the challenge – and the opportunity – of converting potential customers, and despite a rainbow of social media channels and media strategies to drive audience members to a landing page or website, what matters as much if not more is what happens what they get there.
I came away from Clay Collins’ talk with three key insights on how content marketing should incorporate lead generation principles:
- “Maybe” means “no” and “sometime” means “never.” 100% of people who don’t make a decision about whether to become a lead while they’re on your site – don’t become a lead. If you are to keep them in your lead generation process or sales funnel, you need to build their connection to you. And that leads to…
- Offer many ways to easily “upgrade” content. If someone liked your YouTube video, perhaps they can download your notes on it to read late. Or they can get a .pdf version of your blog post. Simple actions, that give people a clear next step to take if they’re not ready to commit to contacting you but they did like your content.For example, if you’re selling products that need to be purchased at the corporate level – say, a major new SaaS offering or a subscription to an academic journal – your customers might not be able to buy right away, but they would like to read more info (conveniently available from your videos, blog posts, etc. and tailored to be more than a simple product description) and build their trust of you.
- “Thank you” shouldn’t end the conversation. It’s weird, isn’t it? We spend a lot of effort building awareness, getting people to the website, convincing them to sign up for a newsletter or buy a product – and then those who are aware, who clicked on your content, who liked your content, who decided to sign up for more – get a thank you page that says something like “Thanks for subscribing to our bi-monthly newsletter! Check your email for news from us!” And then they have to wait two weeks to get an email from you.When folks are signing up for your emails or taking other actions that move them down the sales funnel, they’re thinking about you and they like you. Don’t be pushy (everyone hates pushy salespeople and sales websites), but start a new conversation on that. If they want to get your emails, maybe they’d like to also join your webinar next week or watch a video on your upcoming products.
Image is “The Art of Social Media” by mkhmarketing, available under a CC BY-2.0 license. ©2011